The Philadelphia Fringe Festival is set to host a powerful and thought-provoking new play by Joshua Crone, a Marine Corps veteran and the founder of Yellow Bicycle Theatre. Titled A Marine Walks Up to the Pearly Gates, the show is an ambitious exploration of the U.S. Marine Corps’ 250-year history, told from the surreal perspective of fallen Marines arriving at the gates of Heaven. The production will run from September 11 to September 27, 2025, at the Yellow Bicycle Theater in Center City.

Written and directed by Joshua Crone, a former Marine who served in the mid-90s, the play is a deeply personal project. Crone’s diverse background, which includes time as a carpenter, programmer, fisherman, and translator, informs his unique artistic vision. He founded Yellow Bicycle Theater in 2022, transforming an abandoned escape room into an edgy, experimental space for theater and film. Crone’s mission as a playwright is to “explore difficult questions by giving abstract problems human dimensions,” all while ensuring the audience is entertained.

The impetus for A Marine Walks Up to the Pearly Gates is the upcoming 250th birthday of the Marine Corps on November 10, 2025. The play delves into both the heroic contributions of the Corps and its more controversial aspects, such as racial segregation. From the American Revolution to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the audience will witness the ghostly parade of Marines who, in their afterlife, must confront their past and their service.

Crone’s play is designed to be a “rowdy, poignant yarn filled with gallows humor,” drawing inspiration from the running cadences Marines sing. The central premise, “Hell is other Marines,” is a twist on Jean-Paul Sartre’s famous line, presenting a purgatory where Marines from different eras give each other a hard time. Through a series of flashbacks, the audience will follow each of the eight characters on an “archetypal soldier’s journey,” from recruitment and training to combat and death. A unique technical element is the use of video projections to create animated shadows of unseen figures, a solution born out of a technical problem that evolved into a trippy, immersive effect.

The play is also filled with “Easter eggs” for those with a military background. Crone incorporates details from his own service, such as moves from the hand-to-hand combat system known as Line Training. He also references historical events that are part of every Marine’s “knowledge,” including the original order of the Continental Congress that founded the Corps. Crone cites authors like Jason Bohm (Washington’s Marines), Chester Nez (Code Talker), and Allan R. Millett (Semper Fidelis) as sources that gave him a “new appreciation for Marine Corps tradition.”

For the audience, Crone’s ideal takeaway is not just a deeper understanding of military history, but the simple catharsis of laughter and emotional engagement. The play is an homage to his fellow “jarheads,” written to share the feeling of pride in a long and storied tradition. The play is intended for mature audiences, with an age rating of 18+ due to violent content, adult language, and fog/smoke effects.

Following its run at the Philly Fringe, the play may be heading to a new audience. There is a potential plan to secure a venue in Washington, D.C. for Veterans Day Weekend, possibly at the Army Museum.

The Seacoast of Chile and Birds in the Meadow Bow at the ATA

A Double-Header of new intriguing plays always makes for a great experience at the American Theatre of Actors. And when one is both written and directed by Founder, Artistic Director and President James Jennings, it’s an extra-special experience.

Birds In the Meadow presents a unique situation relevant to our times. Cross-country adventurers Joan (Julie Zimmermann) and her husband Jack (Phil Oetiker) have parked their camper in a trailer park, where Joan rages against the injustices she is seeing in the world, chiefly the widespread physical and emotional abuse of women, such as in Latin America, where “men believe they have control over women’s bodies” to the point of femicide. The camper floor is strewn with crumpled newspapers (Joan is a relative luddite with no computer and only a flip phone, complicating her crusade). Joan has a habit of throwing those crumpled newspapers at Jack, who seems unimpressed with her “hackles up” crusading and dismissive of the notion that she, or anyone, can make a difference.

“Our whole society is breaking down, but I’m not a lawyer,” she says. “Maybe some of the damn lawyers should step up and do their damn jobs.” Joan devises a plan to go from city to city in their camper to talk to the respective governors about replacing all the legal do-nothings. “Whistling in the wind,” dismisses Jack, but Joan refuses to back down. “We’re independents,” she reminds him. “They can’t win without us!”

The situation is complicated by an ominous red note on the camper door which appears to threaten their ability to remain in the park. Wanda (Jiening Zhu), a park representative, arrives at the camper to clear up the situation, but not before getting a humorous earful from Jack and another from Joan. “Is she like that all the time?” Wanda asks Jack after Joan has stormed off. But Wanda notes that the dire state of the world is something worth “getting worked up” about, and soon the passionate Joan sees an opportunity to recruit another person to her cause. Will Joan, Jack, Wanda and their dog Thunder—unseen on the porch but very much a character—join forces and save the world? Expertly written and directed, with a cast that makes their characters come alive with realness and wit, Birds in the Meadow is a gem that, while it entertains, provides a glimmer of hope for troubled times in reminding us of the good that a single person can accomplish.

The opener, Meny Beriro’s Sea Coast of Chile, presents another woman taking action—but this time to rescue her own life. Bella (Leslie Fleming-Mitchell) is a widow who lost her husband in a tragic accident and was driven to attempt suicide a year before the events of the play. She is now gathering with lifelong friends Catherine (Laura Tewksbury), Ed (Michael Donaldson), and Adam (Ken Coughlin), all in their 60s. The other three continue to be worried about Bella, who arrives at their get-together to announce she’s “dying” —not physically, but emotionally. With her suitcase in tow, she reveals that she plans to fly to Chile that very day to start a new life. Catherine and Ed are supportive, but Adam is against it to the point of exploding into emotional outbursts. He practically demands that Bella stay put, chiefly for the sake of her children, who he threatens to contact. “Her kids deserve to know, not read about it in a letter after she disappears!” he argues. But his words and body language betray that there are feelings that the closed-off Adam has been suppressing for decades, and it’s time for the truth to be revealed.

Directed by Ginger Kipps, The Seacoast of Chile is poignant, funny and relatable; the actors truly feel like life-long friends who have experienced both joy and heartbreak together. Bella’s desire to run away and start a new life resonates for anyone who feels trapped and lonely, as does Adam’s unrequited (or is it?) love for his childhood pal. Experienced together, the two plays are a rousing, optimistic look at people kickstarting their lives post-middle age, and finding love, adventure, and an opportunity to make a difference.